Elyria Catholic’s Abby Winnen, left, prepares a pick for teammate Faith Williams as she brings the ball down court, followed closely by Lutheran West’s Raiyah Johnson on March 3.
Jen Forbus — The Morning Journal

With all of the talk in Lorain County focused on the Southwestern Conference and the big things the conference could produce, as it turns out, the real power in the district championships was in the Great Lakes Conference.

Producing two district champions in Bay and Elyria Catholic, the GLC has stepped into the spotlight as a strong girls basketball conference in Northeast Ohio.

Elyria Catholic and Bay played rigorous regular season schedules and have already faced some of the toughest teams in Ohio. Now the stakes get higher as the Rockets will play Gilmour at Barberton on March 6 at 8 p.m., while the Panthers will travel to Cuyahoga Falls to take on Newton Falls on March 7 at 8 p.m.

“E.C. does a great job of doing what they do and they really make teams play into their style and that’s what we’ve been trying to do as well. Playing teams like E.C., Holy Name, Rocky River, Parma, stuff like that, they’re all tough teams to play night in and night out,” Bay coach Brian Hill said. “We really ramped up our offseason schedule playing Chaminade-Julienne, Fairborn, Avon, Avon Lake, Westlake. I told the girls it might not be the start we wanted, but I had a good feeling that if we play those tough teams and play them tough, it’ll really pay off in the playoffs.”

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The Rockets captured their first district crown since 2006. They have been a team on the rise since Hill’s tenure began five years ago.

Bay’s trajectory wasn’t on the rise at the start of the season, though. The Rockets started 3-5 and are now 17-8, while the Panthers have rolled to a 20-5 record.

They took different paths, but they have arrived at the same point — playing in a regional semifinal.

Getting redemption after falling in a district final last year, Elyria Catholic coach Eric Rothgery is bringing forth one of his best squads in recent memory.

“I’ve got some pretty good people that don’t get in the game. So I’m excited about the depth we have right now and the depth we’ll have in the future,” Rothgery said. “Some of these kids have experience. Megan (Scheibelhut) obviously started two years ago when we were down at regionals, so she’s got a ton of experience. It’s always good to get there, I look back to when we got to state back in 2011 and I always credit getting to regionals in 2010, because you’ve got to have that experience.

“It’s good that we have some kids with that experience and we’re going down there to win it. We’re not going down there to just show up.”

Both groups rely on bringing defensive pressure on every possession.

“I think the biggest thing is that our girls have bought into our pace and they realize their limitations. They know that we’re not going to put up 60 to 70 points per game, so we’ll push the ball when we need to,” Hill said. “Defensively, we’ve been stellar holding teams off the three point line and I just give all the credit to the girls.”

Getting back to regionals, one player with more experience in these games is Scheibelhut, who knows what to expect in this win or go home battle.

“Personally, I have the most experience on the team because I’ve been to districts four years in a row and most of these girls have been to the districts at least twice,” Scheibelhut said. “They have experience too, but it’s good to have a leader like me to help out the younger girls and Faith (Williams) and Regan Schill, they help out a lot.”